A citizen panel could still indict the TEPCO executives, but it may be next year before that could be known. The second case of the workers death is slightly more complicated. The lawsuit sought damages for the death of a worker from his family. The judge decided that TEPCO and the four contractors involved in the employment of the worker were not responsible for the activities that lead to his death. Ex-SKF makes the point of exactly who is then responsible for the workers death. The reasoning for letting TEPCO off the hook was that it wasn’t clear they were supervising his work at the plant.

If TEPCO and all the contractors can avoid liability for injury or death of workers at the disaster site this does not bode well for those currently taking such risks to work at the plant.

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